Night Song
by SawyerRaleigh
Summary: Tomoyo tries to warn a stranger of his imminent death and finds herself swept up in a dark world where forseeing fate just might change it...
1. Chapter 1

_Author's Note: So this is a story a friend and I began developing forever ago and while it needs a lot of work still, I figured I would go ahead and publish this bit just to tantalize. :P Basically said friend and I liked the idea of crossing Cardcaptor Sakura, one of CLAMP's happiest, most rainbows and puppies and sunshine! stories with X, one of their darkest, most blood, guts, evil, darkness! stories. :P She and I personally really like Tomoyo and Seishirou and thus an odd idea was born... Enjoy I hope!_

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_Smoke? Clouds? Ash?_

_Tomoyo stared at the sky above her, trying to identify the ephemeral substances obscuring all traces of sunlight. She moved a hand slightly and felt it scrape across cold ground. Sitting up, she saw a broken world._

_A false world…_

_This was an illusion. She wasn't sure how she knew but something about it told her, something about it was vaguely familiar… She wondered if this was some Clow Card's doing. Where was Sakura then?_

_Almost as if summoned by that thought, a soft petal brushed against her cheek. She looked up again to see flurries of petals swirling through the air like a rosy snowstorm. She caught one petal and examined it, wondering if this was the result of Flowery, but something told her this wasn't Clow's magic. Opening her fingers to let the chill autumn breeze snatch the blossom away, she caught sight of the blood stains smeared across her fingertips. Tomoyo shuddered but her attention was suddenly drawn away by the sound of voices in the distance. _

_Two men were standing on jagged boulders like cliff faces, talking to one another across a gap that she sensed was more than just physical. Bandages fluttered away from the one in the white overcoat and floated past the one in the black overcoat, like a silent rustle of an offering. _

_"Yin and yang." She murmured, pulling herself to her feet to wander closer but before she could take a step forward, the men both suddenly moved. There was a flash like lightning and she covered her eyes with her arm, holding it there for a moment before she was brave enough to slowly lower it and see what had happened. Her heart raced as she imagined the slighter, white-clad man to be the one injured._

_He was on his knees, that was for sure but something seemed off. She could not tell much with his back turned to her like this though so she cautiously circled around and gasped in shock and horror as she noticed the hand that had gone straight through the darker man's chest. She ran toward them both, meaning to help, to get him to a hospital or something but even when she reached them, her hands slipped through them both. _

_Startled, she stumbled through them, and tumbled to the ground on the other side. She looked up, just in time to catch the white-clad man whispering "Seishirou-san…" and catch a glimpse of the darker man's raised head and smile before a loud ringing distracted her._

Tomoyo gasped and opened her eyes, staring at the alarm clock sounding shrilly on her nightstand. She slid out of bed in one fluid movement and turned the alarm off on her way to the window where she quickly drew the curtains back.

The sky was clear, the sun was shining and birds outside were singing gaily in the tree beside her window. Heat from the late spring sunshine happily peeked through the window to wrap her in a warm embrace.

She delicately rested one porcelain hand against the window pane, lost in thought still.

"Seishirou-san…" she murmured to herself. "I know that name…"

"Mistress?" A maid called gently from the door. "Your uniform is ready and breakfast is being prepared right now."

Tomoyo let the curtain drop back into place and turned around. "Thank you!" She answered with a brilliant smile, donning the black and white uniform just as she did every other school day and gathering up her backpack to leave as the maid neatly made the bed.

Keroberos had followed Sakura to school that day, caught in her backpack as he tried to sneak a taste of the lunch Kinomoto-san had packed for her. Tomoyo giggled softly as he and Sakura argued over the noticeable blank spot in her bento box where her father usually left her something sweet. At last, too annoyed still to talk to Keroberos, Sakura huffed and turned back to her, with a slightly concerned expression.

"Hey, Tomoyo-chan? Are you feeling alright?"

"Huh?"

"You seemed really distracted in class today. Usually you're paying way closer attention than me."

Tomoyo felt her heart soar for a moment at the realization that Sakura had noticed her. Then a cloud passed over it as she recalled what had been on her mind all morning. She explained the dream that she had had the night before, including the haunting feeling that she had known the dying man and Keroberos perked up his ears as she talked.

"A foretelling dream." He said immediately as soon as she had finished, his voicing dropping to that lower register that hinted at the more powerful creature hidden behind that plushie-like body.

"Hm? But I don't have magic like Sakura-chan." Tomoyo pointed out.

"Sometimes even people who don't have a lot of magic have foretelling dreams." Keroberos replied, crossing his arms with a small frown.

"A foretelling dream…" Sakura trailed off. "Does that mean it's going to happen?"

Tomoyo felt a chill run down her spine despite the warm afternoon sun.

"It might." Keroberos admitted darkly.

"No!" Both Keroberos and Sakura jumped and stared at her, as surprised as Tomoyo was at her own outburst. She clapped one hand over her mouth, embarrassed.

"Sometimes dreams like that are just a warning." Keroberos pointed out. "Or it could just be a regular old dream."

Tomoyo knew he was trying to console her but something had already clicked into place. She did not remember having ever had a foretelling dream before in her life, but some instinct prompted her to take this one as just that.

_Autumn_. She thought. _It was autumn in the dream, probably late autumn; it was pretty cold. _She stared at her hands in her lap, wondering if she could find the man in a couple of months, wondered if she could warn him in time.


	2. Chapter 2

_Author's Note: Don't freak out. :P Just read the footnote. _

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Tomoyo sighed, feeling defeat closing in. She had ordered her servants to discretely search through records of someone named "Seishirou" and looked through thousands of pictures, hoping to find the right one, yet two months later, she was still empty-handed. She shuffled the papers back into a neat pile. "This is everything is it?" She asked the older woman quietly. Tomoyo had chosen to enlist her help because she had once been a politician's bodyguard and still had access to a number of private records.

"There is one other Seishirou on file miss," the woman admitted. "but it surely can't be the one that you're looking for."

She perked up. "Why not? Who is it?"

The woman squirmed slightly in her seat. "Seishirou… Sakurazuka…"

"Why was he not in the files I looked through?"

The woman gave the door a furtive glance. "He works for the government, but he would be kept out of their files where just anyone could find him. He's supposed to be sort of a secret."

"Why?" Tomoyo drew closer as the woman lowered her voice.

"He's an assassin."

Tomoyo mulled this over. "What did you say his last name was? Sakurazuka?"

The woman nodded, still looking terrified. "But please miss… don't tell anyone that I gave you that information. Besides, surely he isn't the person you were thinking of."

Tomoyo gave the woman a serene smile. "Thank you for your help." She padded out of the room and made her way home.

After checking that her mother was away at a meeting, she slipped into her mother's office and located the hidden key in the compartment underneath her desk draw that she knew belonged to the file containing all of their personal documents.

She riffled through them until she found was she was looking for and pulled out the old piece of paper, still pristinely kept, and stared at her birth certificate. She wasn't sure what it was that drove her to this file, but it appeared her instinct was right on the money, as it tended to be.

She knew that the man her mother was in the process of divorcing was not her real father. She had discovered that a couple of years ago when she accidentally overheard a fight in which they were engaged and heard the accusation of adultery, even though it was clear from the conversation that they had met shortly after Tomoyo was born.

Tomoyo had wondered for a while after that who her real father was, but after seeing the almost frightened look in her mother's eyes at the thought of cheating on her husband with whoever she had conceived her daughter with, Tomoyo suspected that it would be a bad idea to ask.

_"He's an assassin."_

Tomoyo stared at the name on the birth certificate and suddenly found herself wondering if he had been present when it was filled out… when she was born… Then again, maybe he didn't even know he had a daughter. Maybe he had gone on, married someone else and had his own family. Maybe she had half-siblings that she didn't even know about, she thought somewhat excitedly. She had always wanted a sister.

Whatever the case, now she knew why she had felt such a connection to the man in her dream.

"Father…" She ran a hand over the name on the birth certificate.

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Seishirou Sakurazuka dreamed.

He dreamed of moonlight shining down on snow as little flurries drifted teasingly through the air, never seeming to quite touch the ground. A tinkling laugh like silver bells filled the night sky but from far away, as if the stars were giggling.

_"Je viens du ciel, et les étoiles entre elles ne parlent que de toi."*_He murmured a line from a song he had always liked. He wondered who it was the stars were talking about tonight and how long it would be before he would meet her.

He was, technically, a yumemi himself, it was just that his dreamseeing abilities were limited to what he needed in order to carry out his role as Sakurazukamori. In other words, he only dreamed about his targets, those who would somehow threaten the spiritual balance of Japan. However, lately the dreams were getting weaker and weaker. He wondered if he was already going senile. Or if it meant that the position would not be his much longer.

He smiled at that thought.

"Not much longer, Subaru-kun."

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Tomoyo liked her father as soon as she met him. He smelled like sakura and cigarette smoke and something else she couldn't quite place but ignored, her mind fixating on the same thing it always did.

She knew immediately that he was not a hugger. She was not normally a cuddly person either all things considered but she had to resist the urge to wrap her arms around him and bury her face in his shoulder and breathe in that welcoming scent.

He paused as he saw her standing by the door to his apartment and watched her warily. She realized he was missing one eye and wondered what had happened to it.

"Hello." She chirped, undaunted by the predatory flash in his eyes. "My name is Tomoyo Daidouji. I believe that you knew my mother, Sonomi."

There was no warmth in the smile that curled at the edges of his lips as he knelt down to her level to hold her eyes with a direct and imposing gaze. "Is that so. And what brings you to my doorstep Miss Daidouji?"

"Could have tea somewhere private and talk?"

He chuckled. "Precocious little thing, aren't you?"

"I have reason to believe that you are in danger." Tomoyo replied softly.

His eyes narrowed and his smile sharpened. "Do you now."

She nodded seriously. "So as I said, could we please talk privately?"

She knew that was the kind of smile villains usually gave their prey before ensnaring them in movies, but she couldn't resist agreeing to follow him into his apartment, pausing only long enough to tell her bodyguards to wait outside downstairs. Anyone else might have found it foolish given the warning signs about the man, but she was already certain that if he meant her harm, her bodyguards would not be able to stop him. The only thing their presence would accomplish would be getting them hurt or killed as well.

She could smell the faint strains of jasmine even from the living room as he prepared the tea and she examined his apartment, drinking it in like a cool glass of water on a summer's day. There was not much to the apartment really, he did not seem to keep a lot of furnishings or personal affects around and at first glance, one might even think it was sparse, that perhaps he did not have the funds to obtain something more ornate. But Tomoyo could smell the genuine leather of the couch and even from here she could tell that the thread count of the curtains was higher than most people's sheets. The floors were polished so brightly that she could see the faint reflection of her shiny shoes in them. He may not have had terribly ornate or gaudy tastes, but Seishirou Sakurazuka was clearly far from destitute.

"Here you go." He handed her a steaming mug before sinking into the chair a few feet away.

Tomoyo stared at the mug, realizing suddenly that he could have easily poisoned it while she was in here, busy staring at his curtains. He was, after all, known for killing people and it wasn't like he couldn't get away with it if he had some pull with the government. Then again, why would he kill her?

She took a small sip and was immediately distracted from her thoughts of a possible homicide by the absolutely _perfect_ taste of the tea.

"This is wonderful." She told him sincerely.

"Glad you enjoy it." He answered with a smile that looked wrong on him. _Where did you get that smile?_ She suddenly wondered. _Whose smile did you steal?_

"So what was it you wanted to speak to me about now?" He set the tea down on the coffee table and gave her a patient smile.

She cleared her throat, feeling the nervous butterflies start up in her stomach the way they did before recitals. "As I mentioned, my name is Tomoyo Daidouji."

"Sonomi's daughter."

"Your daughter as well." The words tumbled out before she could stop herself.

He chuckled. "Your mother wouldn't agree with that."

Disappointment hit her like a sack of bricks and she wondered why it would be so disappointing to learn that she was not related to a murderer. "You mean… you aren't really my father?"

He gave her a long, appraising look over the tops of his glasses. "Oh no, I'm pretty sure you have my DNA if that's what you're asking."

Tomoyo was lost. "I don't understand."

"I wouldn't call you my daughter because I suspect your mother has taken full claim of you. Sonomi can be rather possessive of people she decides belong to her. Like your aunt."

"You knew Aunt Nadeshiko?" This was just getting more and more interesting as far as Tomoyo was concerned.

"Knew?" Sakurazuka-san raised an eyebrow. "I take it she passed away?"

There was just something strange and almost off-putting about hearing him use such a euphemism for death.

"When I was really little." Tomoyo replied softly.

Sakurazuka-san hummed as he took another sip of tea. "That's interesting. Are you the one that she obsesses over now then?" He paused, but before she could reply he added, "No… she doesn't even know where you are right now does she?"

Tomoyo's eyes widened slightly and she felt a delicate blush creep into her cheeks.

He chuckled. "Don't worry, I'm not going to tell on you."

"But you are my father… right?"

"In a literal sense, yes." He sipped his tea calmly as if he had just confirmed that the sky was blue.

Questions tumbled over one another like anxious puppies in Tomoyo's mind and she couldn't decide what to say or ask first when Sakurazuka-san spoke up again.

"Is that what brought you here today?"

The memory of the dream washed over her again, dousing Tomoyo in the acrid scent of smoke and blood.

"You're in danger." She explained, trying to find a reasonable way to put this.

"Oh?" He raised an eyebrow slightly but his reaction was so… serene. It was like she had just told him his front door was painted a shade too dark. "How do you know this? Are you planning on sneaking in here later and attacking me before dinner? Perhaps to demand that we have ice cream first? What cruel piracy." He gave her a mischievous grin and she fought the urge to giggle.

Instead she shook her head, hoping that he would not notice the twitch of her lips. "I had a dream."

His lips did not lose their curl but all the light winked out of his eyes. "Oh?"

It sounded stupid, she realized. Utterly ridiculous. She wanted to just murmur an awkward apology and slink out of the apartment, not wasting any more of his time.

But she couldn't. She needed to say this or she knew that it would haunt her forever.

"I'm sorry." She began slowly. "I know it sounds strange… but it was a dream."

"Sometimes dreams tell us more than reality." He gave a small shrug. "Besides, there are such things as foretelling dreams."

Tomoyo was caught completely off-guard. Her mother was a such a level-headed, scientific-minded woman that the mere mention of things like magic was usually enough to set her laughing hysterically. Somehow Tomoyo had concluded that all adults were like that and it was a large part of why they couldn't tell anyone about Sakura's powers. Who would believe them anyway?

Would Sakurazuka-san? She found herself wondering.

"So what happened in this dream of yours?" he continued, just as calmly as ever and Tomoyo felt something in her begin to unwind. Her mother was loving, but sometimes uptight and always busy, always moving. She had rightfully earned the position of CEO for a reason; she never stopped working. Tomoyo was often reminded of a bee watching her mother dash into her office for one paper then dash to the kitchen to answer the phone while she juggled a call from another client on her cell. Sakurazuka-san was… different. He reminded her more of still water in a jar in a high place that no one could touch, no one could shake.

"You were killed." She replied softly.

He raised his eyebrow again. "Oh? By who?"

"A young man." Tomoyo struggled to recall the details of the other person, realizing that she had spent most of the dream focused on Sakurazuka-san himself. "He looked like he was in his early twenties and he was wearing a white coat."

"Not terribly specific as far as descriptions go."

Something else struck Tomoyo. "And he had green eyes. Beautiful green eyes… but sad. Like they had seen too much in too little time."

Surely it was her imagination that Sakurazuka-san's eyes softened ever so slightly at her description.

"You don't need to worry." He gave her a reassuring smile.

"But-"

"Don't you think your mother will start to worry if you're not home soon?" He cut her off.

Tomoyo took the hint for what it was and let Sakurazuka-san show her to the door but paused before heading out and turned to face him. "Could I see you again sometime?" she asked softly.

He gave her a humoring smile. "Certainly."

Satisfied, for the moment, Tomoyo headed home, wondering what made Sakurazuka-san think he was safe.

When she reached the house, a maid informed her that her mother was working late again and that they were nearly finished preparing dinner for Tomoyo. She thanked the woman gently before washing up for yet another solitary meal.

_Don't you think your mother will start to worry if you're not home soon?_

"Okaa-san is busy."Tomoyo whispered to herself, well aware that her mother was on the verge of merging her company with another major toy manufacturer.

She returned to an empty dining room and stared at her refracted reflection in the crystals dangling from the chandelier as she took her seat, trying not to wonder how someone could be missed when there was no one around to miss them.

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_Author's Note: Yes, she's his daughter, just bear with me on this one okay? XD For the SubaSei fans, don't freak out, he was never in love with Sonomi, he just slept with her. More about that will come up later. :P_

_But no, if you look at their birthdates (cuz CLAMP has actually conveniently provided them XD), Seishirou would have been 20 or 21 when she was born I think (I forget now, but I looked it up a while back) so it's totally possible. XD There's also two pics, one of Tomoyo and one of Setsuka that I remember looking at side by side once and going "omgz, she actually kind of looks like her…" Also Tomoyo is uncannily good at lying. :O Yes, she uses it to help Sakura, for good reasons in CCS, but still. I like to think she inherited it from Seishirou. :P_

_*This line is from the song "Petite Marie" by Francis Cabrel- a song that I love. ^_^ It means "I come from the heavens, and the stars among themselves speak of nothing but you." I know it sounds like it's about lovers but my association with this song is that I have a friend whose father used to always sing it to her when she was little. :P _


	3. Chapter 3

"Are you alright Tomoyo-chan?" Sakura asked over lunch two weeks later.

"Huh?" She stirred from a deep reverie.

"What is it? Did you have another dream?" Keroberos asked between bites of strawberry shortcake he was sneaking out of Sakura's bento.

Tomoyo shook her head slowly. "No, it's not that."

"Then what's wrong?"

Tomoyo stared at her hands in her lap, unsure of how to explain the situation, or rather how much of the situation would be okay to explain.

In the end she simply told them that she had met the man in the dream and that he seemed unconcerned about the images she had foreseen.

"Maybe he doesn't believe in dreamseeing." Sakura suggested.

"I think he does though." Tomoyo protested. "I think he believed me about my dream possibly being prophetic. Yet he chose to ignore it. Why?"

"Maybe he thought that you misunderstood?" Sakura wondered.

They both pondered this suggestion for a moment until Keroberos gave a somber hum.

"What is it?" Sakura leaned toward him.

"What if… he wasn't concerned because that's what he wants to happen?" Keroberos continued slowly.

"Why would he _want_ to die a really horrible gruesome death?" Sakura demanded.

Tomoyo remained silent as the two bickered about what really constituted a gruesome death and whether or not intestines _had _to be removed in order for it to count or not. She wondered the same thing Sakura did at first, but understood that what one person considered horrible, another might not. The world existed after all, only from each person's perspective so perhaps Seishirou's perspective was simply that different from everyone else's.

On the other hand, from her own perspective, this did seem a less than desirable outcome and one that was difficult for her to swallow as it was. She needed to know _why_ he wanted to die that way, if that was indeed his intention. Ordinarily, she felt that she could have simply accepted it but something in this particular case was nagging at her, twisting her gut and she realized that it was a lack of distance from the situation. She was involved now. She had foreseen the incident, and she had already felt a certain connection to Sakurazuka-san that she supposed might be a result of their genetic link, or perhaps she had simply been charmed by his own mannerisms. Either way, she sensed a growing fascination with the man and knew from experience that once enraptured by a person, she did not easily walk away from them or their affairs. There was only one thing to do.

She had to get to know him better.

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He knew she was there before he even rounded the corner and Seishirou paused, still concealed behind the apartment walkway, debating whether he wanted to have yet another conversation with the girl. He was not a big fan of children, generally speaking, that was more Subaru's forte truth be told.

On the other hand, this girl was somewhat intriguing. There was an innocence to her that he found somewhat appealing, rather in the way that Subaru's innocence had captured his attention. On the other hand there was a clearer, more observant and cynical streak to her that he had seldom encountered in one so young. How she had managed to weave the two traits into one consistent personality was beyond Seishirou himself, but he appreciated the cool, reflective beauty of it. It was certainly an interesting change of pace if nothing else to hear the perspective of a perceptive youth.

He turned the corner with a smile.

"Hello again."

She studied his face carefully as though unsure of what to make of the words, a teasing joke, a mildly irritated greeting, or a genuinely cheerful salutation. Whatever conclusion she reached however, remained obscured behind dusk-dusted eyes.

"I'm sorry for surprising you again." She apologized politely, with a graceful bow.

Seishirou raised an eyebrow. He had a feeling this was completely intentional and calculated on her part and he wondered if it was because she did not trust him to reply to any calls or other forms of communication. It was probably a legitimate concern, he admitted to himself.

"I was hoping…" She paused, visibly tasting the words before pronouncing them. "If you had the time, if you would be willing to join me for tea. There is a shop not far from here and I would like to talk with you a little more if that is alright." A less observant man would not have caught the way she held her breath as her face remained as serene as ever following her proposition.

Seishirou hesitated a moment, waiting to see if her graceful countenance would waiver at all as the seconds ticked by and was both pleased and impressed to see that it did not.

"I would love to join you for a talk."

A smile brightened her twilight features, leaving him with the impression of a fleetingly beautiful sunset.

"However, it's so warm out, do you really want to get tea?"

She tilted her head ever so slightly, sending a cascade of silky hair over her shoulder. She was going to be devastating as an adult he realized. "Did you have something else in mind?" she wondered aloud.

"How about ice cream?"

Her face registered momentary surprise at this suggestion and he suddenly got the feeling that she spent the majority of her time around adults who took themselves far too seriously. She regained her composure however almost immediately and gave a small nod. "Ice cream sounds wonderful." She replied in that small lavender voice.

They made their way out of the complex and down the street to the park where Seishirou knew of a small stand he passed by often on the way home from jobs. He had never had the opportunity to try their desserts however as the majority of his jobs were executed at night and the stand was not open at four in the morning for some reason. In truth, he was pleased to have an excuse to stop by for a cone during what most people would consider a respectable hour for once.

"So what brings you out my way once again?" Seishirou asked, a hint of chuckle flavoring his voice as they crossed a stone walkway into the park.

"I just wanted to talk." Tomoyo replied carefully neutral.

"Is that so?" They approached the stand and he paused. "What kind do you like?" She reached for her handbag and he shook his head. "It's on me."

She did not argue or try to regain the control by refusing his offer but accepted with perfect politeness. He appreciated that. "Vanilla please."

"Plain vanilla?"

She nodded.

From someone else, the answer may have seemed bland but he suspected that she was simply a connoisseur of subtlety as it were. He approved of the choice and ordered two, mimicking the order for himself, an amusing twist he felt, as it should have seemed that she was mimicking him instead if age was considered to be of any consequence.

They wandered the park, coming to rest beneath a vibrant sakura tree, still in bloom too late in the season. He watched her study it carefully, with a small smile tugging at the corners of her lips.

"Do you like the sakura?"

She nodded, closing her eyes and breathing in the scent deeply, as if she could think of no greater joy than taking in this sweet perfume.

"I love sakura." She replied softly.

.

.

"Why is that?" Tomoyo wondered if it was genuine curiosity or spoken as a reflexive response.

"They're lovely." She paused and added hesitantly. "And they make me think of someone."

His head tilted slightly and she knew immediately it was in response to her hesitation although his voice did not betray his curiosity in the least. "Oh?" A single syllable answer hung perfectly poised between question and statement, leaving his end of the conversation wide open for her to continue with an explanation or to change the subject and she was certain that if she were to stray to another topic the matter would be dropped in a heartbeat.

Although she did not know the extent to which it was true, she sensed that Sakurazuka-san had an acute sense of reciprocity and decided to use that sense to her own advantage, hoping that it would not be seen as taking for granted his own sensibilities.

"My best friend's name is Sakura; they make me of her."

He tilted his head ever so slightly in her direction and although she could not see his eyes behind sunglasses, she had the distinct sense that his gaze had captured uncomfortably more than she had stated.

"I see." He replied mildly.

A spark of inspiration hit her. "Do you have a best friend?" She wondered aloud, hoping that perhaps she had stumbled upon a connection to the white-coated man in her dream.

"I do not." Sakurazuka-san answered flatly, effectively squashing that attempt.

"Who do you spend time with then?"

"What do you mean?"

"When you are tired of being alone and just want company. Who do you spend time with?"

"What makes you think I ever seek company?"

"Everyone wants to not be alone sometimes."

"Oh?" Seishirou reclined against the park bench in a surprisingly relaxed and vulnerable pose. "Do you not feel rather that time to oneself is far more valuable in a society like ours wherein people live so pressed together that a moment of solitude is rather a treat?" He paused only to savor another bite of ice cream. "Between televisions, radios, telephones, when are we really alone?"

Tomoyo considered this carefully, nibbling on her own cone. "True. But when are we truly with others?" She answered and was pleased to see one eyebrow rise over the edge of his sunglasses. "We are not _with _the television, merely in its presence. We may be surrounded by other people but that does not make them our company. Actually being with another person is not the same as being in close proximity to them."

"What then, would you say makes that distinction? What qualifies a two people as actually being together?"

She watched two small children in a sandbox helping one another to build a sand castle a few meters away and gestured discretely toward them. "That. When their combined efforts or thoughts create something new. Even if it is only a new idea, or a new emotion. The word 'interaction' speaks volumes in just its components; an action that exists between two people."

Seishirou did not reply for a long while and so she took the opportunity to return to the original question. "So then, do you really not ever wish to be with someone else?"

"I do not." He answered so simply that Tomoyo was momentarily left breathless, wondering if it were merely a lie told with the ease of many years of practice or if it were genuinely the simple truth of the matter. Either case, she realized, could be rather unsettling.

"Well you are here with me." She pointed out.

"You asked me here." He shrugged.

"But you are engaging in the conversation; you didn't have to come along, much less actually respond to anything I said."

"That would just be rude." He gave her a teasing grin.

"And is that really why you're here? For the sake of not being rude?" Tomoyo studied her cone carefully. "You don't seem like the sort to be so concerned with being polite."

"Oh? Well then why do you think I'm here?" There was just the faintest hint of a challenge beneath his words.

Tomoyo considered the question and he respectfully remained silent, allowing her time to think.

"Because you wanted ice cream."

It was not a question, not the words of a child seeking approval or confirmation, but a statement spoken the same tone she might have used to note that it was going to rain. His smile was unnecessary but nonetheless drove the point home that she was right, he was more interested in the vanilla cone in his hand than he was in her. She supposed that perhaps should bother her, but all she could really think was that there was something strangely refreshing in the fact that he had never pretended to care.

"May I visit you again?" She held up her own cone. "Next time on me?"


End file.
